I'm 5!

...a martial arts birthday party at my dojo where I got to cut the strawberry and chocolate ice cream cake with a real sword!!

Thanks to everyone who celebrated my birthday with me! See more pictures of the day here.

The Force is Strong with this One

My parents are in bed Christmas morning when they hear me step out from my bedroom and say "Aah....Cooool!"

Not only did I get great Star Wars loot, but after many viewings of Lego Star Wars on my Daddy's iPhone, Mommy decided that I might as well watch the real Star War movie (Episode IV: A New Hope with heavy editing)! My FIRST Star Wars movie!!! I loved it! What a great Christmas!

One of Mommy's friends wonders, "How many times did you see the movie that it changed your DNA?"

"Best Place Ever"

...is how I described Disneyland to my parents. It had "all of the stuff I like": Buzz Lightyear, Star Wars, toys! The storm on Wednesday didn't hinder my enjoyment of Peter Pan, Submarine, Tiki Room; in fact it was great because there was zero line. I bravely tried out the Pirates of the Caribbean; the two drops scared me! And I checked out the queuing areas of Star Tours and the Haunted Mansion but didn't go on the rides. The rain was nothing that a hot cocoa break after Winnie the Pooh didn't resolve. My favorite part? "All!"

I didn't want to leave. See more pictures of the trip here.

(above photo: reaching for the snow on Main Street after the fireworks)

Aloha...

...from 49 Black Sand Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii!

More details to follow.

The parent-teacher conference

My parents had another conference with my teachers today. It was a very positive report. They report that I am very sweet, well behaved and wonderful to have in class because I always listen, am respectful, nurturing, polite, and do as I'm asked. I seem to have a lot of respect for the rules, and always strive to do the right thing, and help others (or tell the teachers) when someone is not. I never protest, whine or complain, so I must be at my best behavior at school because I am certainly not that way at home!

The things that I'm working on... I started reading my first book! The story is about Max the cat and a rat that he wants to nab. I've loved reading since I was a baby, so I am so excited to be able to read my first book. I am also learning to tell time, identify and count money, and add numbers in the thousands using the thousands cube, hundreds square, etc. The Spanish teacher reports that I am doing great in Spanish. I follow her, participate, and listen well. I was a little shy in the beginning because the teacher spoke exclusively in Spanish, but I think the teacher has been making a big effort to bring me out by saying "Muy Bien!" Now I think language is fun. (NB I've been enjoying my Chinese class more too, thanks to fun interactive Chinese homework)

The only strange thing that two teachers brought up is that the kids say I like to be a boy. The teachers are bothered enough that they reprimanded the kids that this was not a nice thing to say, and that it might hurt my feelings. But, quite on the contrary! I love it! I like pretending to be a boy! I get so annoyed if people assume that I like pink and princess since I am a girl! Adults seem to really dig my tomboy personality. Mommy has started shopping exclusively in the boys' section. Well, the good thing is, at least deep down I still know that I am a girl. I use the feminine tense when I speak Spanish!

A note from my teacher

Isabella loves playing with I, R and G. Every time when they're together, they build big cake towers, they play Pokemon trainers, and pushing shopping carts and cars. And they're having a great time together! It's always lots of smiles, giggles and laughter. :-)

Hope.

Yes we did!

The future has never looked brighter.

Happy Halloween!

...love, Batman, Train Engineer, Superbaby, Darth Vader and Junk Bond dude.

Pumpkin Patch visit

Some school buddies and I loved running around the pumpkin patch.

No Daddy

I like writing out words. I give Mommy and Sebastian notes with hearts on it. But the ones I give Daddy always look something like this.

I am Superman!

Short note from my teacher

"...Isabella is doing great on her clock work. Good job, Isabella!"

Go Fly a Kite

...enjoying my first kite flying experience with my new Spiderman kite from Sebastian's birthday party...

Land Ho!

More details to follow. See more pictures here.

The "Big Ship"

Running around the balcony between our rooms, trashing Obachan and Gichan's room, and meeting all of the friendly employees on the ship made our cruise! See more pictures here.















































































...no matter where I am, getting a hug from my brother is one of my favorite activities.

Italy

See more pictures of the Italy trip here.

@ NYC

The Superhero leaving the hotel every morning, some sights, and lots of fun playdates with friends. More details to follow.































































...ah yes, and at the Gay Pride parade too.

Prince Philip does baseball

I've been saying for weeks that I want my hair short like a boy, like Sleeping Beauty's Prince Phillip. Today I got my wish! I celebrated afterwards with a very "boyly" activity - my first baseball game! At first, all I could focus on was the men with the big boxes walking around with treats. After inhaling half a box of Dibs, I started watching the game more carefully. Mommy explained while I enjoyed the high scoring game: everyone in Oakland got 10 points while the Detroit fans only got 2!

My buddies

George and I are "just friends" now; Zion is my man these days. The other day George ran up to Mommy's car window and exclaimed, "I love Izzy!" and I grumpily mumbled in the back seat, "I like playing with Zion too!!" Zion likes to play Transformers, Power Rangers and Spiderman! I started rejecting green and Pokemon, both of which George loves. The other day I said that I would marry Zion and George was marrying somebody else. I think George was bummed out the rest of the day. What a love triangle!

Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman's here!

Woo hoo! I finally earned my Spiderman costume! I had to attend a LOT of Chinese classes in Oakland for it, but it was sure worth it!